RE: “If you support the war, then why don’t you go fight it,” 10/26
Moises Jacobs’ criticism of the College Republicans for our support of the war in Iraq uses the same faulty logic that has been used many times in the past: Unless you’re willing to fight a war yourself you don’t have any credibility in supporting it. This is akin to saying that unless you’re willing to don a police uniform and do battle with criminals you can’t credibly advocate being tougher on crime since you share none of the risks of the policeman you’re demanding fight said criminals.
Representative Charles Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) bill calling for the reinstatement of the draft was not to pose a challenge to those who support wars they aren’t willing to fight, but to make a statement about the economic background of those who enlist. While it’s true that many who enlist in the military come from an economically disadvantaged background, the majority are from the middle class; the picture painted by Fahrenheit 9/11 and echoed by Mr. Jacobs – that the bulk of the people who enlist are from poor backgrounds – is an inaccurate one. The rest of the draft issue is indeed a scare tactic that John Kerry continuously takes out and waves around like some poisoned dagger.
The fact that most students who are against the war do little more than occasionally vocalize their opinion on the subject speaks more to their lack of credibility on this issue than some theoretical situation in which the College Republicans might have a change of heart were some of them to face the possibility of conscription. It is more likely that we would support the war in Iraq in either case since all evidence presented at the time pointed to the necessity of our involvement there. A draft would not have changed that equation.
UM College Republicans
RE: Mock election results
The skewed results of this past Tuesday’s mock election by the Council for Democracy should not be taken to heart. These results indicate a 20-point swing for President Bush in one month. Yet, they conflict with a recent poll taken in one of the residential colleges where the results were essentially reversed from Tuesday’s mock election in favor of Sen. Kerry. They also conflict with The Hurricane’s own online poll showing Kerry with 51 percent of the vote compared to Bush’s 43 percent.
The reasons for this inaccurate representation could be many, most explained by the low turnout of the election. A little more than 300 votes were cast compared to the nearly 9000 undergraduates on campus. There’s also the fact that many students don’t even pass by the UC Breezeway, where the election was held, at all during their day.
Though this election is not the real thing, it puts an important emphasis on the need to get out the vote for Sen. Kerry. We can’t allow anything to get in the way of casting our votes. Recently, Bush supporters with campaign material have been able to move freely around all of the early voting polling places, sometimes even intimidating voters. This is especially threatening to those who do not want their day ruined by classic Bush scare tactics.
We can’t allow these tactics to work, and we can’t allow ourselves to think negatively. You should feel proud to support John Kerry and John Edwards. I know I am. When you push that touch-screen “Vote” button, you should feel the adrenaline rush and the excitement that goes over you as you declare to the entire country that your voice is as important as anyone else’s and that it will be heard.
UM Young Democrats